In the past I introduced you to two of my coworkers here at CyberCoders, Sharon Brown and Curt Weigel. Today, I want you to meet one of the newest members of the CyberCoders family, Chelsea Whalen.

VB: Tell us about yourself

CW: I am an Executive Technical Recruiter at CyberCoders, Inc and love finding my clients the best candidates for their roles! I love establishing positive relationships with the people I talk to everyday because I am a firm believer in “what goes around, comes around!”

VB: How long have you been recruiting? How long have you been working at CyberCoders?

CW: I have been recruiting for almost 2 years and have recently joined the CyberCoders, Inc family! I started recruiting towards the end of the recession and have truly fallen in love with what I do. I have a very outgoing personality and talking to people every day and building relationships has become my “bread and butter!”

VB: What are your areas of expertise?

CW: I am very knowledgeable in the Technical Industry. My niche is typically .NET/SQL roles in So Cal. In my opinion, it is one of the best industries to be in! I work with the brightest and most talented software engineers in the country! I have worked with start-up companies and large corporations who have been in business for decades. I have always had a strong passion for the latest and greatest technologies because they are always changing, I enjoy learning them, and I always strive to challenge myself.

VB: What are some open positions that you are recruiting for at this time?

I am currently setting up interviews for a Computational Mathematician in Tallahassee, FL and a Senior Java Engineer in Oakland, CA. If you are curious about any of the roles I am currently working on or are looking to fill a position with your company, please do not hesitate to contact me!

Should I Stay or Should I Go?

What to Do When You Have Outgrown Your Job

By Vahid Behzadi

Vahid Behzadi is a Recruiting Manager with CyberCoders, Inc.

“Why are you interested in a new opportunity?” I always ask candidates this question. One of the most common answers I hear is boredom or lack of challenge in their current position. So I ask, do you feel like you’ve outgrown your job? It’s a good idea to start analyzing and get a sense of where you are in your job, before you decide to leave it.

Are you able to take full advantage of your current position?

A couple of weeks ago a candidate told me that he was ready to change gears. A director at a major ecommerce operation, he’s responsible for development teams, product strategy, marketing, sales, advertising teams and analyzing profit and loss. Although he excels at all of his duties, he does not feel challenged any more. His employer decided not to build out the division and remain at its current operational level. After working tirelessly to get the business unit up and running successfully, the candidate’s executive management team decided the only things left to do would be spend more on advertising and increase product selection for customers. Basically, everything shifted to maintenance mode. His concern quickly became the fear that we would get stuck in a middle-management position, without the ability build on his current successes. Having built out the ecommerce department, the candidate felt all avenues of growth in his current position were exhausted. I mention this because the candidate took full stock of all his current and projected future duties to finally come to the realization that he has outgrown his position and began to seek a new opportunity. His story is one that many candidates can learn from and gage whether or not they have taken full advantage of the opportunities with their current position, before looking for something new.

Do you take on new challenges and responsibilities? Or, just wait for someone to assign them to you?

Most employers want self-motivated employees. There are tasks and assignments that you can just get done without waiting for them to be assigned to you, I guarantee it. If the tasks aren’t a part of your job description take advantage of the opportunity to get stuff done. You may find there are challenges that you can incorporate into your daily job that increase job satisfaction, and maybe it is a task your manager did not think of asking you to do.

An example of this scenario played out with a lead software engineer I placed into a position three months ago, who called to tell me that he did not feel challenged in his work and that he was getting bored.

First, I asked him how much time he was spending during the work day on Facebook and other social networks. He responded truthfully that it was at least an hour a day on social networks doing things that didn’t directly correlate to his work. I asked him plainly if there were things around that he felt he could build or do to improve the work environment and development process. He explained there was plenty but the he was not assigned to do those things. I reminded him that he was a lead, and he needed to…you guessed it…lead. Don’t wait, just do it.

Through the course of our 30 minute conversation he rattled off at least 5 projects he knew he could grab and complete that would make everyone’s life better if they were completed. When I checked in with him a few weeks later, he said that the work place had become more efficient and his management team had really loved the work he’d done, not to mention his initiative. They gave him more high profile work and he’s happier than at any other time at work.

My point, what are you waiting for?

Don’t beat around the bush, just ask the question already.

Talk to people, people with the ability to do something about your situation. Most people are afraid to ask a hard question. Company politics aside, if you don’t ask the question, you will never get an answer. If there is an opening in your company that will provide you the challenge you are looking for and an opportunity for advancement, talk to someone about it. Your boss, HR, the hiring manager, the VP….just ask! If you just wait for someone to give you something you want, odds are you will be waiting a long time. If your feel like you’ve outgrown your current role, ask for a new one. What’s the worst thing that can happen? They say no? Well, you’re already thinking about what’s next in line for you anyway so why just leave it to fate? This isn’t the Greek tragedy, it’s your career…be Ulysses and map your own course. Ask for what you want. A raise, a promotion, extra PTO, the opportunity to write a blog and develop social media strategy, whatever…just ask.

Explore your options.

Now you’ve done your diligence. Do you still feel the same? If so, it’s time to explore your options. Talk to associates in your professional network about what you are looking for. Get your resume and LinkedIn profile updated. Start checking job boards (Monster, Hot Jobs, CyberCoders) and research sites like CareerBliss to define the path you want to be on. Are you interested in more money (probably), shorter commute, more direct responsibilities, management or hands on challenges? Define for yourself what you feel like you are missing that has brought you here and then start building your strategy around finding opportunities that will allow you to continue to grow. If you can afford it and you don’t need to jump right away, exercise patience. Make sure that when you do move to the next role that you are doing it for all the right reason. Just remember that it’s not about your next job, it’s about your career – navigate your path accordingly.

I wanted to introduce you to another one of my associates here at CyberCoders. The last time we introduced you to Curt Weigel. Today I’d like you to meet Sharon Brown. She is a Texas-Based CyberCoder like myself, and one of the outstanding recruiters we have here to support you. Please say hello to Sharon.

VB: Tell us about yourself
SB: I’m a enthusiastic Recruiter who loves the job I’m in! Every day is great day when you place talented candidates in awesome companies. It’s like matchmaking on the job market!

VB: How long have you been recruiting? How long have you been working at CyberCoders?

SB: I’ve been with CyberCoders almost six years and worked 2 ½ years at an administrative-focused agency prior to CC.

VB: What are your areas of expertise?

SB: Commercial and Residential Audio Visual Integration companies are above and beyond my passion and forte. I love all aspects of engineering recruiting, however. Anything from Biomed to recycled paper to mobile-home siding! I love engineers. They’re smart, organized, detail orientated and always do well in interviews!

VB: What are some open positions that you are recruiting for at this time?

So you are good candidate and your recruiter has you set up for an interview at a company you definitely would like to work with. You go in and nail your interview. The company wants to make you an offer on the spot. You ask them to make you an offer and they come in 20% less than where you want. Dang!

What do you do now?

The lesson to learn here is that you need to trust your recruiter. You don’t have to have a discussion of salary right there on the spot. You can talk salary and you may not run into this situation, but if you do there isn’t any reason you couldn’t have waited a day. Engage the recruiter that put you in front of the client and have an open and frank discussion about a game plan on approaching the primary purpose of working…to get paid.

Not every job is about salary, trust me I am aware of that. But if you don’t have that discussion with your recruiter then you may never know what you could have earned. In the last year alone, I’ve seen several candidates take pay hits they really didn’t need to.

As for clients, good deals are always in the cards, but if you aren’t giving value for value, then you leave yourself open for a backfill when someone else comes along and offers your ‘employee’ fair market value. The recruiter you are working with wants to make sure you get the best bang for your and repeat business. He or she will work with you to make sure everyone feels whole.

Just take a second, cool off and give your recruiter a call. Nothing will change in 24 hours…48 hours maybe.

The Dallas Business Journal cited MSNBC and Moody’s Economy.com basically claims the recession is over in one out of every five major US cities. This includes my new home town of Dallas. An exciting piece of information for sure, not only for me but for many people across the country.

“Out of 384 metro areas in the nation, 79 are in recovery, according to the August data on jobs, manufacturing and housing, the report said. Another 270 areas have a “moderating recession,” meaning their economies were not contracting as severely as earlier. That leaves 35 metro areas in a full-blown recession.”

But no city is yet categorized as being expansion mode. Jobs are considered to be a lagging indicator and some have said we are going to see a jobless recover. There are still companies that are doing layoff, but as someone with “boots on the ground” experience in employment, I’ve noticed an uptick in jobs and requests for recruitment. Many of my associates at CyberCoders are seeing the same.

Finding top talent is still a priority for many companies and even with many candidates in the marketplace, companies are still finding it difficult to locate the right kind of people.

This paradox is a bit hard to explain since there is more supply than demand, but my experience is telling me that companies that are hiring are still trying to find the needle in the stack of needles as the haystack has blown over. Most are not settling on just someone who is good fit, but striving to find darn near exact fits in both salary, skill and personality.

What does that mean for you? Well, first with a rebound in the economy, more jobs will come. It may take time and hopefully you will weather the storm. Second, that building your network and using recruiters is still going to help you parlay yourself and your talent into career opportunities. Third, we aren’t out of the woods, but we are getting there.

You know CyberCoders has a strong team of senior recruiters, tons of great talent and an excellent network of affiliates and clients that all work collaboratively in providing people with the best career search resources out there today.

Recently Career Bliss launched in Beta. Its another one of the great network partners dedicated to making your job and career search even better. I love it and recommend it to my network of connection! Its innovative and just really cool. Read more about it at http://ping.fm/0tytL

Using the Internet you can research just about anything now, from buying a new car to picking out the best seat on a plane, to finding the best Salsa club in Topeka, Kansas. But how do you find the best company when looking for a new job?

CareerBliss launched in May of 2009 with the goal of filling this gap. We provide job seekers a comprehensive career research tool by giving access to thousands of company reviews and interview tips and millions of salaries and active job postings for companies nationwide. All of our information comes from anonymous reviews by real employees at real companies.

CareerBliss has salary data for millions of companies and job titles nationwide. Curious what a Program Manager at Microsoft in Seattle earns? We have that. How about what Accountants in Debuke, IL earn? We got that too… and everything in between!

What makes CareerBliss unique: Sure there are plenty of sites of that aggregate and report salary data, but their information is generally out-dated and generalized. CareerBliss gives you up to the second salary information for any job across the country, and granulized to exactly what you’re looking for – down to a specific company, for a specific job title, in a specific city. We also only look at recent salary information, so your salary searches remain relevant to what is happening in real life.

Share your anonymous salary review today! If you’re the only person at your company with your position, or work for a very small company, we will automatically anonymize your salary review!

See the thoughts of real employees that work at the company you are researching. Company reviews can be filtered down to cities and job titles, so you can see specifically see what someone in your field and geography thought of the job.

What makes CareerBliss unique: Speed and volume! CareerBliss collects more reviews per day than any other source available. This in turn provides you with a more complete picture of how the inner workings on a company runs, from real employees.

Share your anonymous company review today! The whole process is very quick and we are sure to maintain your anonymity.

I am pretty much a Start Up Junkie. At a minimum, I love to know what new cool things going on in my community. I was in Los Angeles for 15 years and now that I am in Dallas, I have tried to really get my head wrapped around the community we have here locally and throughout the state of Texas.

I will keep you posted on the news I get and let you know about cool startups as I run into them, in Texas, California and Nationwide!

Texas TechPulse has a new report out that Q3 VC Totals hit over $350M, which is exciting for me and I hope is beneficial to all. The more exciting start ups, the more successful, the more jobs.

The amount of venture capital invested in Texas in Q3 totaled around $363.97M, according to an analysis by Texastechpulse of venture deals in our venture database. According to our analysis, investments were up from the $282M invested in Q2 of this year.

The biggest investment of the quarter was for Goodman Networks, based in Plano, a provider of engineering services to the telecom industry, which raised $62M in July. Other large deals included Plano’s Prodea, with $29.56M raised; and Richardson-based Convey Computer, with $24.15M.

Texastechpulse tracks day-to-day venture capital activity in the state of Texas, and uses venture data disclosed by companies announcing funding; self-reported by both technology companies and venture firms; as well as regulatory filings and other sources.

PricewaterhouseCoopers/National Venture Capital Association, and VentureOne will release their quarterly nationwide results of venture activity later this month. Numbers from those firms will differ due to sources of information, timing of funding events, and classification of data.